The Pros and Cons of an Oil Boom

by Taylor Viydo, tviydo@k2tv.com

To see the effects of the oil and gas boom in the Southern Powder River Basin, look no further than Glenrock, Wyoming. “With
the increase of oil production, [companies] are certainly paying more
taxes,” says Converse County Commissioner Mike Colling. He estimates
that tax revenue to be around $177 million. “We’re
able to give pay raises, we’re able to keep our good employees,” says
Colling of the increased revenue. He adds that Converse County, like other areas
benefiting from energy production, have been able to contribute to their
rainy day funds. “We’ve been able to put a large amount in savings for
future projects,” he says. In
addition to working for the County, Colling also owns Glenrock’s Hotel
Higgins with his wife Judi. With the influx of oil field workers into
the County, Judi says business has been good. “What we have noticed is a
steady increase in occupancy,” she says. “We’re almost totally filled
every night.”

The Hotel Higgins in Glenrock.

At
the same time, workers looking to rent property instead of living in a
hotel have produced somewhat of an issue. Colling describes the housing
situation as one partial downside of the boom. “Rental costs have gone
up. People are paying more for rent now than they did a year or two
ago,” he says. “But it’s not so good for people that are not in the oil
business or are on fixed incomes.” For
example, Colling says there is less incentive for recent college grads
looking for work in other industries to come to Converse County. “Let’s
say a school teacher wants to rent a house - a young student out of
college. They are paying quite bit more for rent than they would have a
couple of years ago.”

Colling says road quality has become an issue since the boom began.

An
increase in drilling activity also means an influx of drivers in the
county. All of that wear and tear on the roads adds up says Colling.
“Keeping up with the roads, repairs, and damage on the roads is a
tremendous task,” he says. “I think [the County] budgeted somewhere in
the neighborhood of $7 million just this year for road repairs.” However,
in the face of looming budget cuts due to low natural gas prices, one
could say high rents and damaged roads are welcome burdens. “It’s good
that we are not in a real bind like some counties, and that’s nice. We
are sitting quite well.”